PumpkinPatch_Palacious

PumpkinPatch_Pumkins

You haven’t seen a four-year-old run until you put them in a pumpkin patch.

Eric Palacious Jr., darted up and down the aisles of pumpkins at Grace Lutheran Church, desperately trying to win first place at a race that only he was aware of. Meanwhile, Matthew Niblett was testing his own strength as a toddler by picking up a pumpkin that was literally half his size. After stumbling a few feet, he realized he was better off picking a pumpkin he could handle.

Niblett and Palacious were just a few of the 91 students of Noah’s Arc Preschool that wandered through the church’s pumpkin patch Oct. 14 — a tradition that’s been going on for 12 years.

“It’s a fundraiser for the various ministries for the church,” Sue Underwood, preschool administrator, said. “It’s primarily for the youth but we also do a lot with other social ministries that help people in the area. It’s all for the kids, just different factions of kids.”

On average the pumpkin patch brings in around $4,000 for the church ministries and this year the church was delivered 1,875 pumpkins to sell.

“It all makes a difference,” Underwood said. “The majority of it has been for the youth to send them to camp because it’s an older congregation so there’s not as many youth. But the ones that are here, we try to give them something special to look forward to.”

And the kids definitely enjoyed the treat. After all the pumpkins were picked, the students eagerly went back inside with smiles on their faces to continue this church’s fall tradition.